Will The Twins Regret Passing On Jo Adell?

If acquired, Jo Adell could have given the Twins a major boost against left-handed pitching while serving as a natural platoon partner for Trevor Larnach. Larnach has been highly productive against right-handers, posting an .857 OPS, but enters Thursday batting .154/.267/.308 with a .574 OPS against southpaws.

Minnesota typically uses him in the leadoff spot against righties before dropping him to eighth against lefties. Adding Adell would have allowed the Twins to preserve Larnach’s favorable matchups while inserting a stronger right-handed option into a similar lineup role against left-handed starters.

However, Adell still has his own flaws that would need to be accounted for.

His .680 OPS is unremarkable and tied heavily to his home run power. His .237 average looks even worse alongside a dismal 3.9% walk rate. Adell’s Statcast profile includes a .299 wOBA and .327 expected wOBA, suggesting his contact quality has been better than the results indicate, but baseball is not played based on expected production. As of now, Adell offers limited value when he is not sending balls into the stands.

Minnesota also had more urgent pitching concerns. MLB identified the bullpen as the club’s biggest deadline need before the market opened. The numbers back this concern up. The Twins currently have the fifth worst bullpen ERA at 4.93. The Twins addressed this with the additions of Minter and Hoffman while adding Kremer to eat innings and soldify the back end of the rotation.

Prospect cost is another factor. Cleveland surrendered Cozart, a 2024 second-round pick and rising prospect. Minnesota would have needed to determine whether Adell’s production and arbitration control through 2027 justified subtracting another player from a farm system that had already been depleted to complete three other deals.

Overall, passing on Adell in favor of more pitching help is defensible given the Twins’ bloated bullpen ERA, but it still leaves their lineup vulnerable against southpaws. Time will tell whether prioritizing bullpen help over that weakness helps or harms the team in its pursuit of the postseason.